UPDATE - Turkey's Borsa Istanbul up at close

UPDATES WITH MORE DAILY FIGURES

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's benchmark stock index climbed 0.51 percent to close at 102,494.03 points on Thursday.

Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index started the day at 102,033.90 points, gaining 522.74 points from Friday's close of 101,971.29 points.

The benchmark index hovered between 101,695.35 and 102,893.49 points during Thursday's trading.

The total market value of the BIST 100 was around 670.7 billion Turkish liras ($126.6 billion) by market close and the daily trading volume was 5.9 billion Turkish liras ($1.1 billion).

On the fourth transaction day of the week, 74 stocks on the index were on the rise, while 18 were on the decline, and eight were flat compared to the previous close.

The highest trading volumes were posted by the national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, private lender Garanti, and defense industry company Aselsan.

The shares of conglomerate Ihlas were the top gainers -- up 9.37 percent -- and leading GSM operator dropped most by 6.70 percent.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 5.3260 at close, up from Wednesday's close of 5.3060.

The euro/lira rate increased to 6.0590 at Thursday's close, versus 6.0210 at the previous close.

One British pound traded for 6.9740 Turkish liras, while the GBP/TRY rate was 6.9340 at close on Wednesday.

In Borsa Istanbul's Precious Metals and Diamond Markets, the price of one ounce of gold was around $1,335.00 by market close, down from $1,342.00 the previous day.

The price of Brent crude oil was around $67.00 per barrel as of 6 p.m. (1500GMT) Thursday.